Indigenous Statistics for Schools

The life expectancy of Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons differ for both males and females. The life expectancy at birth for Indigenous men was 67.2 years and for women was 72.9 years (for 2005-2007). Life expectancy for Indigenous men is 11.5 years less than for non-Indigenous men, while the life expectancy of Indigenous women is 9.7 years less than for non-Indigenous women.

Indigenous life expectancy estimates could only be compiled for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Of these, New South Wales had the highest Indigenous life expectancy (69.9 for Indigenous men, and 75.0 for Indigenous women). The Northern Territory had the lowest (61.5 for Indigenous men and 69.2 for Indigenous women). Due to the small numbers of Indigenous deaths in the other states and the ACT, it was not possible to construct life tables for these areas.

Life Expectancy in years at birth (a) by Indigenous status 2005-2007

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

Difference between non-Indigenous and Indigenous life expectancy(b)

Males

NSW

69.9

78.7

8.8

Qld

68.3

78.6

10.4

WA

65.0

79.0

14.0

NT

61.5

75.7

14.2

Aust (c)

67.2

78.7

11.5

Females

NSW

75.0

82.5

7.5

Qld

73.6

82.5

8.9

WA

70.4

82.9

12.5

NT

69.2

81.2

11.9

Aust (c)

72.9

82.6

9.7

(a) These figures are not comparable to previously published figures due to major changes to methodology.
(b) Differences are based on unrounded estimates.
(c) Includes all states and territories.Source:Experimental Life Tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2005-2007 (cat. no. 3302.0.55.003).

These figures cannot be directly compared with previous estimates of life expectancy for Indigenous persons, as the methodology (the way the figures are derived) is very different.

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